Hey guys, just got my Mark V and I've been reading a lot about the IIC+ settings that Metallica used on Master of Puppets. I wanted to dial in those settings in IIC+ mode on the V, and I understand there's a few differences, but I wanted to see if I'm thinking of the settings correctly.

Seems like the IIC+ has two volumes and two gains? While the V only has one gain, but still two volumes (master and output). Has anyone had success dialing in the true MOP tone using a 1:1 setting with the V in IIC+ mode, or have you found some tweaks to really dial it in?

I've also seen a note in some of the MOP settings to put the presence around 3.5. I was basing the settings on this image:

Yeah, there are some problems converting the Metallica settings from the IIC+ to the V. And some of your assumptions are slightly wrong.

First off, the Volume control on the C+ controls the input gain to both the clean and lead mode. So the higher you have this knob the more gain is available in both the clean and lead mode. This is why the Mark IV and Triaxis has both a Gain (Volume) and a Lead Drive. On the V this Volume is permanently set to about 7.5 internally and the gain knob is actually the lead drive. And since Metallica used a Volume setting of around 9 on the C+, you can't really duplicate this on the V. The other big thing is the Deep function on the C+, is not active in the C+ mode on the V, but there is a version of this active in the IV mode. The C+ mode on the V also uses the smaller coupling cap that the non eq versions of the C+ had. This makes the amp tighter with less sub lows than the eq equipped versions. Less fat. The shift function on the treble knob on the C+ is always active on the V, so that is correct. The bass knob shift is not modeled on the V. The bright function on the lead master is the same as the bright on the V. The master and lead master are the volume controls. The clean is always controlled by the master, and the lead master is mainly used to balance the volumes of the clean and lead modes. But the master vol is the main volume for both modes.

I would suggest using the Mark IV mode instead of the C+ mode as it has the bigger coupling cap and a version of the Deep function and a bit more gain to compensate for the lower Volume setting on the V. You can also turn up the gain a bit more for this reason.

On the new JP2C it's easier to match the Metallica settings as ch 3 uses a internal Volume setting of about 9 when the gain is pulled. It also has the Treble shift and Deep function active all the time and the bigger coupling cap. This amp is the closest thing to a real C+ that you can get right now.

Keep in mind that Metallica used additional parametric eq's to further shape the tone. And at some time they started using the C++ mod on their amps.

Thanks so much for your response! There's so many variables with these amps, I was having a hard time piecing it all together. I did read the other day that the IV mode had the larger coupling cap and more closely matched the deep mode, so I can't wait to try these settings and see how it sounds!

As for the JP2C, I'd love to have one in the future. I play a lot of styles and the versatility of the V is great for that, so if I can get 90% or so to the Metallica tone, I'll be very happy in the mean time.

I put the settings you listed onto the Mark V blank template for anyone who wants to see them more quickly. I'm not sure if the EQ section is exactly the same, the scale of it may be off and the sliders may need to be slightly higher, but it gets the main point across.